A man visiting Orlando from Georgia was arrested Friday night around 9 p.m. at the Pulse crosswalk.
29-year-old Sebastian Suarez, who was celebrating his birthday at a nearby restaurant, was taken into custody after allegedly defacing a traffic device. Suarez’s girlfriend, Madison Obregon, told Channel 9 the arrest “happened fast,” and described how officers quickly detained him at the scene.
Video footage shared with Channel 9 shows the moment Suarez was apprehended. Obregon remarked, “He started drowning in the bottom of his shoe. And they swarmed him, detained him, and put him in the car.”
The Florida Highway Patrol charged Suarez with defacing a traffic device. Earlier that day, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) had posted new signs warning demonstrators at the crosswalk.
Legal analyst Bill Sheaffer told Channel 9 that cases like these might be difficult to prosecute, noting that intent and actual damage must be proven. “What is the damage? That is a far, far stretch in this, I believe, the state’s weakest argument of all,” he said.
In a statement earlier on Friday, FDOT emphasized, “Vandalizing state property and/or disrupting traffic in any way is unsafe and illegal. These illegal actions will not be tolerated and will be fully enforced by law enforcement.”
